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October 3, 2003/Tishri 7 5764, Vol. 56, No.2
'Lift My Eyes' makes musical debut
JESSICA BARBER
Staff Writer
In high school, Scott Leader and a group of friends formed a Bruce Springsteen cover band to express their musical talents. And although the group's guitar riffs and '70s style jams didn't make them famous, the group gave Leader a glimpse into the world of performers.
Since then, Leader has been turned on to the niche of Jewish music and has performed throughout the United States and in Israel and London. On May 15, he released his first compact disc, "Lift My Eyes."
The CD features Hebrew and English prayers as lyrics, set to Leader's original tunes, he explains. For example, track one of the CD, "Psalm 150," is the Psalm commonly read before Shabbat set to Leader's acoustic-based, folk-rock style of sound. Other songs begin with biblical lyrics followed by Leader's interpretation in English; others are completely original works.
"As a songwriter, I sometimes find it difficult to write lyrics," says Leader, assistant principal of Temple Chai's religious school. "I can sit down and write a hundred songs, but none of them have words, which is kind of a problem. What I found with Jewish music is an infinite pool of lyrics in two languages."
Leader never received any formal training but became captivated with music at an early age.
"My grandfather was a concert piano player and I remember him teaching me things on the piano when I was a little kid," Leader recalls. "After that, I just kind of picked up things on my own."
While in college, Leader was offered a position leading music at Sunday school where he needed to "learn all those Jewish songs." As he became more familiar with Jewish music, he became more interested in creating his own sounds - and in finding the roots and meaning to "traditional Jewish music."
"I realized that I was always bored in synagogue," says Leader. "People are locked into the idea of traditional melodies. But they don't realize that some of those traditional melodies are beer-drinking songs from the Germans in the 1850s. Many don't understand the roots of what we call 'traditional Jewish music.' They say they sing it because it's traditional. I say, 'whose tradition?' "
Leader also discovered that Jewish music has evolved with changing cultures and time.
"The tradition in Judaism has always been that whatever the local music is of that culture, they adapt it to Jewish music," he says. "Here we are in the United States - this is our music."
Leader took "our music" and created his first CD; however, he says there is a big difference between his recorded sounds and live performances.
"I'm happy with the way the CD came out because I'm finding that it's appealing to a wider audience being more folk than rock," says Leader. "The people who know me know that Springsteen is my favorite ... and they can hear those influences in the music. But when I play music live, it's a lot more rockin'."
Leader and some of the musicians on his CD will lead Raw Kaballah services at Beth El Congregation beginning on Nov. 21. He also plans to release another CD next year - one that features more of his rock 'n' roll roots.
"I just want everyone to sing along," says Leader. "When I'm up there playing one of my songs and people start singing along, I feel like that equals success. Just because it's Jewish doesn't mean it can't be fun."
Leader, a native of New Jersey, graduated from the University of Arizona with bachelor's degrees in Judaic studies and geology.
His CD, "Lift My Eyes," is available at Jewish Quarter of Scottsdale and on Leader's Web site, www.scottleader.com. Cost is $15.
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